Reuters: White House, State Dep’t received e-mails within two hours of Benghazi attack about jihadi group taking credit

posted at 11:21 pm on October 23, 2012 by Allahpundit

We actually know most of this already, I think. Remember this Reuters story from October 2 describing multiple intelligence reports about a jihadi connection even in the first few hours afterward? How about the AP’s piece four days ago about the CIA’s station chief informing the White House within 24 hours that militants might be involved? The White House had plenty of reason to suspect more was going on than a protest that got out of hand, even from the very beginning. But that would meddle with one of O’s strongest reelection narratives, i.e. the president who demolished Al Qaeda (read this for a stark illustration of how certain key supporters are helping him out with that), so we didn’t hear about it until Eli Lake and CNN and Reuters all but dragged it out of him.

What we didn’t know until now is that the White House Situation Room got a heads up on whodunnit early enough that Chris Stevens may well have still been alive at the time.

The emails, obtained by Reuters from government sources not connected with U.S. spy agencies or the State Department and who requested anonymity, specifically mention that the Libyan group called Ansar al-Sharia had asserted responsibility for the attacks…

A third email, also marked SBU and sent at 6:07 p.m. Washington time, carried the subject line: “Update 2: Ansar al-Sharia Claims Responsibility for Benghazi Attack.”

The message reported: “Embassy Tripoli reports the group claimed responsibility on Facebook and Twitter and has called for an attack on Embassy Tripoli.”

While some information identifying recipients of this message was redacted from copies of the messages obtained by Reuters, a government source said that one of the addresses to which the message was sent was the White House Situation Room, the president’s secure command post.

Carney mentioned afterwards that “extremists” might have been involved in the, ahem, spontaneous protest, but he didn’t name Ansar al-Sharia or suggest that U.S. intelligence had a particular group in mind. Which is curious, because the e-mails pointing to the group’s Twitter/Facebook claims weren’t the White House’s only piece of evidence against them. Eli Lake reported three weeks ago that American spies captured communications between Ansar al-Sharia and the local Al Qaeda affiliate after the attack.

Ansar al Sharia has been declared by the State Department to be a an Al Qaeda-affiliated group. A member of the group suspected of participating in the Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi has been arrested and is being held in Tunisia…

Fox News was told that an estimated 300 to 400 national security figures received these emails in real time almost as the raid was playing out and concluding. People who received these emails work directly under the nation’s top national security, military and diplomatic officials, Fox News was told.

If I understand the White House’s Benghazi narrative in its current form, it boils down to this. There was no protest, but the attack was still kinda sorta spontaneous insofar as it was inspired by what was happening at the embassy in Cairo. And it wasn’t an official Al Qaeda or Ansar al-Sharia operation, even though members of AQIM and Ansar al-Sharia — including the founder of the latter group — were on the scene and/or participating. Essentially, the White House wants you to believe that members of two prominent jihadist paramilitary groups were kicking around on September 11 when one of them turned on the TV, heard about the Mohammed movie from coverage of the Egyptian embassy assault, and decided to quickly pull together a complex, heavily-armed attack on the local U.S. consulate involving 20 or so people. Never mind that there had been harassment of, and attacks on, western interests in the city for months; these guys apparently had no serious designs on Chris Stevens or his compatriots until they heard about the YouTube video and hulked out in the form of an organized armed raid. The only thing that makes this story plausible is that security for Stevens at the compound was so disgracefully poor that hardened jihadis probably could have drawn up a play in the dirt outside the building and gotten to the ambassador. That’s Obama’s defense here, essentially — that the consulate was so easily breached thanks to threadbare protection for Stevens that it’s quite possible the whole thing was put together by amateurs, without planning.

Update: Patterico e-mails with a good catch about the Fox News excerpt quoted above. It’s Ansar al-Sharia in Yemen that’s been designated by State as an Al Qaeda affiliate, not Ansar al-Sharia in Libya. There are, in fact, multiple Ansar al-Sharias in Libya; I wrote a bit about that here. Al Qaeda HQ in Pakistan has evidently been using that name as an alias for some of its affiliates. The Benghazi group may or may not be one of them, but given their contacts with AQIM after the attack as described above, it’s probably a matter of time before State designates them an official AQ affiliate too.

So what exactly will be done about all of this? Will there be more hearings before the House? Will Susan Rice or anyone else from the administration be asked to testify under oath? Or are Republicans just waiting another 14 days and hoping Obama gets voted out of office so he can be replaced with a C-in-C who isn’t a liar and coverup artist?

Do these effers in the White House think that sh!t arrives via Pony Express? I mean c’mon, we’ve got this email thing, it types the text, it rubs the lotion on itself, it hits “send” and BAM! ya get the email….it’s that quick.

So what exactly will be done about all of this? Will there be more hearings before the House? Will Susan Rice or anyone else from the administration be asked to testify under oath? Or are Republicans just waiting another 14 days and hoping Obama gets voted out of office so he can be replaced with a C-in-C who isn’t a liar and coverup artist?

Fox News was told that an estimated 300 to 400 national security figures received these emails in real time almost as the raid was playing out and concluding. People who received these emails work directly under the nation’s top national security, military and diplomatic officials, Fox News was told.

With that many people being copied on those e-mails, there is no way on earth that anyone in the WH administration who spoke publicly about this didn’t know they were lying.

His foreign policy is in flames, either which way you wish to take “flames”.

He talks about Big Bird, folders/binders, Romnesia and other minor topic to fool the fools.

In front of you is an underdeveloped narcissistic teenager who’s been caught with his pants down.

Last night he looked/acted defensive and beaten because the land dares to have found him out.

Out of desperation he’ll have a few neighborhoods bombed in Benghazi but it won’t work. There will be civilian casualties and it will backfire on him, as it should. Anything he will do/say from now on will be political, to save his own skin.

I actually see this as a turning point for the media. I expect a blistering attack by the media against Obama. This is their chance to absolve themselves of their guilt for the fraud of a man they defended for years. If the media is smart, they will use this as a chance to show the public the are still relevant.

That’s Obama’s defense here, essentially — that the consulate was so easily breached thanks to threadbare protection for Stevens that it’s quite possible the whole thing was put together by amateurs, without planning.

And who’s fault was it that there was threadbare protection for Amb. Stevens?

What if Bush had been informed of security risks in Benghazi and did nothing?

What if Bush had been informed 2 hours after the attack that it was a jihadi group?

What if Bush went to a campaign fundraiser instead of assessing the situation and assuring the nation on the attack?

What if Bush went 2 months without a press conference on the attack?

What if Bush and the people of his administration repeatedly LIED about the reason for the attack, targeting a private citizen as a scapegoat instead of admitting it was a radical Islamic group that planned the whole thing?

The worst part is that I think I know the answer, he would have been tarred feathered and thrown out of the capitol.

Instead we have Obama saying that he deserves four more years.

He has turned the office into a disgrace. This should finish him…but the LSM would never let it happen. What a terrible time we live in people.

That’s Obama’s defense here, essentially — that the consulate was so easily breached thanks to threadbare protection for Stevens that it’s quite possible the whole thing was put together by amateurs, without planning.

Prompt global strike (PGS) would allow the United States to strike targets anywhere on Earth
with conventional weapons in as little as an hour
*************************************************

This capability may bolster U.S. efforts to deter
and defeat adversaries by allowing the United States to attack high-value targets or “fleeting
targets” at the start of or during a conflict. Congress has generally supported the PGS mission, but
it has restricted funding and suggested some changes in funding for specific programs.
Many analysts believe that the United States should use long-range ballistic missiles armed with
conventional warheads for the PGS mission. These weapons would not substitute for nuclear
weapons in the U.S. war plan but would, instead, provide a “niche” capability, with a small
number of weapons directed against select, critical targets, which might expand the range of U.S.
conventional options. Some analysts, however, have raised concerns about the possibility that
U.S. adversaries might misinterpret the launch of a missile with conventional warheads and
conclude that the missiles carry nuclear weapons. DOD is considering a number of systems that
might provide the United States with long-range strike capabilities.
============

Yup. Mitt got a days worth of news cycle talking about him taking the high road and appearing presidential instead of all the post debate chatter being about mean Mitt bullying poor Zero on Benghazi. Mitt knew this was coming so he didnt have to be the “bad guy” for the press to attack. Brilliant.